The Latest from Iran (31 May): The Political Battle Over Control of Oil

2025 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Hojatoleslam Mojtaba Zolnour, the Supreme Leader's representative to the Revolutionary Guards, has told a university audience that they should beware of the attempt by the Hojjatieh Association to influence the Government.

Hojjatieh is a Shia organisation, founded in 1953, that was forced to disband by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1983 over views about the imminent return of the Hidden Imam. There have been numerous claims that President Ahmadinejad and his key advisors like Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai are secret members.

2000 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Iran and India have failed to agree a method for Delhi's payment for oil exprots from Tehran.

A delegation from Iran met officials from different Indian ministries to find a resolution for the five-month-old issue, sparked by international sanctions on Iran's oil products.

India is reportedly mulling using multiple currencies, including the rupee, to pay for the crude oil. Iran is Delhi's second-largest supplier after Saudi Arabia.

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Iran Cartoon of the Day: The Hourglass, Khamenei, and Ahmadinejad (Kowsar)

Nikahang Kowsar assesses the current political situation for Rooz Online:

Egypt Feature: The Military's Virginity Checks on Protesters (Amin)

 A senior Egyptian general admits that "virginity checks" were performed on women arrested at a demonstration this spring, the first such admission after previous denials by military authorities.

The allegations arose in an Amnesty International report, published weeks after the March 9 protest. It claimed female demonstrators were beaten, given electric shocks, strip-searched, threatened with prostitution charges and forced to submit to virginity checks.

At that time, Maj. Amr Imam said 17 women had been arrested but denied allegations of torture or "virginity tests."

But now a senior general who asked not to be identified said the virginity tests were conducted and defended the practice.

"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general said. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."

The general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities.

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Bahrain Admission: OK, We Destroyed the Mosques (Gutman)

Bahrain's Sunni Muslim government demolished or seriously damaged 43 Shiite Muslim mosques or religious structures during its crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, according to an official tally compiled by the state-supported endowment that oversees Shiite sacred buildings.

Twenty-eight mosques were completely leveled, of which 10 had been historic structures, according to the list, which the Awaqf endowment posted last week on its website. Another seven were seriously damaged, of which two were historic, according to the list.

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Yemen Breaking: "Islamic Militants" Occupy the New York Times

Photo: Hani Mohammad (AP)UPDATE 1930 GMT: The Times has an article with a different approach this afternoon, "Yemen Battles Opponents on Two Fronts". While the reference to "Islamist militants" remains, this at least is set alongside the developments in Taiz:

"The Yemeni government ratcheted up its violent response to opponents on two fronts Monday, pounding a major coastal city with airstrikes aimed at dislodging Islamic militants, and smashing the country’s largest antigovernment demonstration in overnight clashes that killed more than a dozen protesters, according to witnesses reached by phone."

So what happens to the priorities of "Western" reporting when the spectre of "Islamist militants" arises?

Exhibit A from The New York Times, which headlines on the occupation of Zinjibar in Yemen by 300 insurgents, "Islamists Seize a Yemeni City, Stoking Fears". (The lead photograph (see left) of armed men is not actually of "Islamists" in Zinjibar, but of "tribesman" in the capital Sana'a, if you can read the small-font caption.)

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The Latest from Iran (30 May): Handcuffing Justice

Sotoudeh & Husband Reza Khandan2005 GMT: Foreign Affairs. It is reported that the National Security Council has banned Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi from visiting Saudi Arabia, linking the mission to the "deviant current".

2000 GMT: Campus Watch. Deutsche Welle reports that female students are being barred from some postgraduate programmes in Iranian universities.

1940 GMT: Oil and Politics. A spokesman for Parliament's Energy Committee has reiterated the warning (see 1645 GMT) that President Ahmadinejad's attempt to be caretaker Minister of Oil is illegal and has said that, subject to a Majlis vote, a report will be sent to the judiciary for action.

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Yemen (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Blaming Al Qa'eda, Killing the Protesters

2020 GMT: A series of claimed videos to close the evening:

A march following two funerals in the Souq al Jomaa district of Tripoli in Libya:

A candlelit march in Sanabis in Bahrain:

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Iran Letter: Imprisoned Attorney Sotoudeh "A Tolerance That Will Eventually Lead Us To Achieve Our Goals"

My beloved Reza, as long as such unjust sentences exist and the Revolutionary Court continues to render such shocking rulings, with or our without a license to practice the law, I will continue to object to these sentences, for one does not need a license in order to object to unjust sentences.  Tell them they can revoke my license if they wish to do so, but they can't strip me of my right to justice.

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Saudi Video and Poster: Manal al-Sharif "We Can Do It. We Can Drive."

Last week, we featured Manal al-Sharif, the Saudi woman who challenged Saudi Arabia's ban on females driving and to put up a YouTube video of her defiance, inviting others to follow her example.

Today an English-language version of the video and a poster in support of al-Sharif, updating the US "Rosie the Riveter" campaign of World War II.

The Latest from Iran (29 May): "Death to Deviant Mashai"

2035 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. More volleys this weekend in the political conflict --- former Presidential advisor and current head of IRNA Ali Akbar Javanfekr warns of a "parliamentary dictatorship", while Revolutionary Guards commander Mohammad Ali Jafari says the "deviant current" was trying to make money through the private sector and then using this to influence future elections.

2015 GMT: Khamenei v. Ahmadinejad. More on this weekend's clash between the Supreme Leader's supporters and those of the President, courtesy of Ayatollah Khamenei's representative in Fars Province, Ayatollah Asadollah Imani.

Imani criticised the Minister of Interior, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, for replacing the provincial governor, Abdollah Hosseini with Farhad Sajjadi. The ayatollah claimed Hosseini had resisted against pressure from the "deviant current" around Ahmadinejad.

A pro-Khamenei website adds that Hosseini had been pressured by Najjar to resign as governor ever since his appointment and had told Presidential Chief of Staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, "I will not be a 'yes, sir' man."

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